Eole Water Turbine Like Star Wars Vaporator

"This technology could enable rural areas to become self-sufficient in terms of water supply," says Thibault Janin, director of marketing at Eole Water.

Eole Water is currently displaying a working prototype of the 24 meter tall WMS1000 in the desert near Abu Dhabi that has been able to produce 62 liters of water an hour, says Janin.

He explains that the technology works by first generating electricity in the traditional manner of a wind turbine. This power enables the entire water generating system to function.

The next stage sees air sucked in through the nose of the turbine via a device known as an "air blower".

All air trapped during this procedure is then directed through an electric cooling compressor situated behind the propellers. This contraption extracts humidity from the air, creating moisture which is condensed and collected.

The water gathered at this stage is then transferred down a series of stainless steel pipes, which have been specially modified to aid the water production process, to a storage tank in the base of the turbine.

SF fans are no doubt thinking about moisture vaporators of the desert farms of Tatooine:

For human purposes, however, the water of Tatooine was only marginally accessible. The atmosphere yielded its moisture with reluctance. It had to be coaxed down out of the hard blue sky -- coaxed, forced, yanked down to the parched surface.

Two figures whose concern was obtaining that moisture were standing on the slight rise of one of those inhospitable flats. One of the pair was stiff and metallic -- a sand pitted vaporator sunk securely through sand and into deeper rock.
(Read more about the vaporators from Star Wars)

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 6/21/2012)